Author Richard Heinberg once taught a course on sacred geometry, and he’s written nearly a dozen books related to our society’s balance with the natural world so when he and his wife built a tiny cottage in their backyard they embedded the Fibonacci series in the windows as a nod to the importance of the golden mean in nature’s patterns.

Heinberg has written 10 books on energy issues, and the backyard of his modest home in Santa Rosa, California reflects his belief that we need to go back to basics: he has a large veggie garden, chickens, and a tiny cottage (see our video on why the end of growth can mean better future solutions). The wee house is an experiment in natural building and a nod to the tiny house movement.

The windows in the structure reflect the Fibonacci series because “there’s a harmony in nature and we wanted to symbolically represent that in the design of our little house”.

The home is slightly less than 120 square feet which means it’s a “building of no consequence” so the Heinbergs didn’t have to get a permit from the city or country to build it.